150 APPENDIX 



of the roads should not be wholly debited to the 

 reclamation, as they will to a large extent be paid for 

 in the increased rating of the area. None but schemes 

 on a large scale, however, offer prospects of ultimate 

 success and some time would elapse before they be- 

 came paying propositions. It may be estimated that 

 the gross expenditure on the reclaimed land (regard- 

 ing the afforested portions as a separate enterprise) 

 would be £8-£10 an acre before the farms could be 

 let, and for the first year or two the rents would have 

 to be kept low, not rising to the normal for at least 

 five years. But allowing for half the land in forest 

 it would ultimately carry a family per 300 acres where 

 it now only carries a family per 1,500 acres. 



One aspect of reclamation work that has not hitherto 

 been considered is that it would afford a considerable 

 volume of employment for large gangs of unskilled 

 labour during the preliminary period of actual reclama- 

 tion. Most of the work that requires to be done — 

 embankment, drainage, levelling, clearing, etc., road- 

 making, and even building — could be done under 

 direction by able-bodied men with no previous ex- 

 perience of the land. For example, regiments await- 

 ing discharge could well undertake such work on a 

 prepared scheme with a small amount of technical 

 direction, the huts that have been erected in so many 

 camps about the country being moved to supply the 

 necessary housing. As the work progressed and 

 became more definitely agricultural, the men with a 

 desire to remain in the country, and some aptitude 

 for farming, could be selected to become the occupiers 

 of the holdings that had been prepared for farming. 



